Challenges In Prosecuting Digital Arrest Crimes Across Jurisdictions

Abstract

The enormous growth of information and communication technologies has supported the rise of advanced types of cyber-based fraud which is usually referred to as digital arrest crimes where the fraudsters claim to be law enforcement or regulation officials so that victims submit to intimidation, surveillance allegations, and legal threats. Such crimes are transnational in nature: criminals cross the borders with anonymization tools, spoof identities, encrypted communications, and systems of cross-border payments, and victims and digital evidence can be located in different jurisdictions. In this paper, the author critically evaluates the main issues in prosecuting the digital crimes of arrest across the jurisdictions with the emphasis on the areas of jurisdiction conflict, the issues of evidences and the inconsistencies in the substantive and procedural cybercrime laws. It examines the disintegration of national legal systems and the pragmatic constraints of the international cooperation systems, such as the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) procedures and harmonisation projects under the instruments such as the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime.

This paper contends that current territorial traditions of criminal jurisdiction are becoming ineffective in dealing with transnational digital coercion programs and that more procedural harmonisation, faster data-sharing structures, and capacity-building are key. Placing digital arrest crimes into the broader context of sovereignity, due process, and control of technology, this study makes a contribution to the discussion on enhancing transnational cybercrime prosecution and protecting basic rights in a global digital environment.